Article 18 GDPR

← Article 18 - Right to restriction of processing →
Chapter 1: General provisions Article 1: Subject-matter and objectives Article 2: Material scope Article 3: Territorial scope Article 4: Definitions Chapter 2: Principles Article 5: Principles relating to processing of personal data Article 6: Lawfulness of processing Article 7: Conditions for consent Article 8: Conditions applicable to child’s consent in relation to information society services Article 9: Processing of special categories of personal data Article 10: Processing of personal data relating to criminal convictions and offences Article 11: Processing which does not require identification Chapter 3: Rights of the data subject Article 12: Transparent information, communication and modalities for the exercise of the rights of the data subject Article 13: Information to be provided where personal data are collected from the data subject Article 14: Information to be provided where personal data have not been obtained from the data subject Article 15: Right of access by the data subject Article 16: Right to rectification Article 17: Right to erasure (‘right to be forgotten’) Article 18: Right to restriction of processing Article 19: Notification obligation regarding rectification or erasure of personal data or restriction of processing Article 20: Right to data portability Article 21: Right to object Article 22: Automated individual decision-making, including profiling Article 23: Restrictions Chapter 4: Controller and processor Article 24: Responsibility of the controller Article 25: Data protection by design and by default Article 26: Joint controllers Article 27: Representatives of controllers or processors not established in the Union Article 28: Processor Article 29: Processing under the authority of the controller or processor Article 30: Records of processing activities Article 31: Cooperation with the supervisory authority Article 32: Security of processing Article 33: Notification of a personal data breach to the supervisory authority Article 34: Communication of a personal data breach to the data subject Article 35: Data protection impact assessment Article 36: Prior consultation Article 37: Designation of the data protection officer Article 38: Position of the data protection officer Article 39: Tasks of the data protection officer Article 40: Codes of conduct Article 41: Monitoring of approved codes of conduct Article 42: Certification Article 43: Certification bodies Chapter 5: Transfers of personal data Article 44: General principle for transfers Article 45: Transfers on the basis of an adequacy decision Article 46: Transfers subject to appropriate safeguards Article 47: Binding corporate rules Article 48: Transfers or disclosures not authorised by Union law Article 49: Derogations for specific situations Article 50: International cooperation for the protection of personal data Chapter 6: Supervisory authorities Article 51: Supervisory authority Article 52: Independence Article 53: General conditions for the members of the supervisory authority Article 54: Rules on the establishment of the supervisory authority Article 55: Competence Article 56: Competence of the lead supervisory authority Article 57: Tasks Article 58: Powers Article 59: Activity reports Chapter 7: Cooperation and consistency Article 60: Cooperation between the lead supervisory authority and the other supervisory authorities concerned Article 61: Mutual assistance Article 62: Joint operations of supervisory authorities Article 63: Consistency mechanism Article 64: Opinion of the Board Article 65: Dispute resolution by the Board Article 66: Urgency procedure Article 67: Exchange of information Article 68: European Data Protection Board Article 69: Independence Article 70: Tasks of the Board Article 71: Reports Article 72: Procedure Article 73: Chair Article 74: Tasks of the Chair Article 75: Secretariat Article 76: Confidentiality Chapter 8: Remedies, liability and penalties Article 77: Right to lodge a complaint with a supervisory authority Article 78: Right to an effective judicial remedy against a supervisory authority Article 79: Right to an effective judicial remedy against a controller or processor Article 80: Representation of data subjects Article 81: Suspension of proceedings Article 82: Right to compensation and liability Article 83: General conditions for imposing administrative fines Article 84: Penalties Chapter 9: Specific processing situations Article 85: Processing and freedom of expression and information Article 86: Processing and public access to official documents Article 87: Processing of the national identification number Article 88: Processing in the context of employment Article 89: Safeguards and derogations relating to processing for archiving purposes in the public interest, scientific or historical research purposes or statistical purposes Article 90: Obligations of secrecy Article 91: Existing data protection rules of churches and religious associations Chapter 10: Delegated and implementing acts Article 92: Exercise of the delegation Article 93: Committee procedure Chapter 11: Final provisions Article 94: Repeal of Directive 95: /46: /EC Article 95: Relationship with Directive 20: 02: /58: /EC Article 96: Relationship with previously concluded Agreements Article 97: Commission reports Article 98: Review of other Union legal acts on data protection Article 99: Entry into force and application

Legal Text

Article 18 - Right to restriction of processing

1. The data subject shall have the right to obtain from the controller restriction of processing where one of the following applies:

(a) the accuracy of the personal data is contested by the data subject, for a period enabling the controller to verify the accuracy of the personal data;

(b) the processing is unlawful and the data subject opposes the erasure of the personal data and requests the restriction of their use instead;

(c) the controller no longer needs the personal data for the purposes of the processing, but they are required by the data subject for the establishment, exercise or defence of legal claims;

(d) the data subject has objected to processing pursuant to Article 21(1) pending the verification whether the legitimate grounds of the controller override those of the data subject.

2. Where processing has been restricted under paragraph 1, such personal data shall, with the exception of storage, only be processed with the data subject's consent or for the establishment, exercise or defence of legal claims or for the protection of the rights of another natural or legal person or for reasons of important public interest of the Union or of a Member State.

3. A data subject who has obtained restriction of processing pursuant to paragraph 1 shall be informed by the controller before the restriction of processing is lifted.

Relevant Recitals

Recital 67: Right to Restriction of Processing

Methods by which to restrict the processing of personal data could include, inter alia, temporarily moving the selected data to another processing system, making the selected personal data unavailable to users, or temporarily removing published data from a website. In automated filing systems, the restriction of processing should in principle be ensured by technical means in such a manner that the personal data are not subject to further processing operations and cannot be changed. The fact that the processing of personal data is restricted should be clearly indicated in the system.

Recital 156: Processing of Personal Data for Archiving Purposes in the Public Interest, Scientific, Historical Research or Statistical Purposes

The processing of personal data for archiving purposes in the public interest, scientific or historical research purposes or statistical purposes should be subject to appropriate safeguards for the rights and freedoms of the data subject pursuant to this Regulation. Those safeguards should ensure that technical and organisational measures are in place in order to ensure, in particular, the principle of data minimisation. The further processing of personal data for archiving purposes in the public interest, scientific or historical research purposes or statistical purposes is to be carried out when the controller has assessed the feasibility to fulfil those purposes by processing data which do not permit or no longer permit the identification of data subjects, provided that appropriate safeguards exist (such as, for instance, pseudonymisation of the data). Member States should provide for appropriate safeguards for the processing of personal data for archiving purposes in the public interest, scientific or historical research purposes or statistical purposes. Member States should be authorised to provide, under specific conditions and subject to appropriate safeguards for data subjects, specifications and derogations with regard to the information requirements and rights to rectification, to erasure, to be forgotten, to restriction of processing, to data portability, and to object when processing personal data for archiving purposes in the public interest, scientific or historical research purposes or statistical purposes. The conditions and safeguards in question may entail specific procedures for data subjects to exercise those rights if this is appropriate in the light of the purposes sought by the specific processing along with technical and organisational measures aimed at minimising the processing of personal data in pursuance of the proportionality and necessity principles. The processing of personal data for scientific purposes should also comply with other relevant legislation such as on clinical trials.

Commentary on Article 18

The right to restriction of processing is a right which allows the data subject to temporarily limit the type of processing operations that a controller or processor can perform on his or her personal data.

The right to restriction of processing was introduced by the GDPR. It did not have any identical or close equivalent under the Directive 95/46 (DPD). Rather, Article 12(2) DPD referred to the possibility for the data subjects to request the 'blocking of data' in case the processing was unlawful. The DPD did not specify, however, the meaning of 'blocking' personal data would concretely entail. The lack of clarity of that provision prompted the Commission to replace any reference to the 'blocking' of personal by an additional and more specific right for the data subjects: the right to restriction of processing.

The right to restriction of processing can be invoked in four different situations by the data subjects, as further detailed below (see below 'Legal Grounds'). Those situations have two elements in common: (1) the existence of an ongoing claim or objection relating to the personal data, and (2) the possibility for the data subject to temporarily restrict the processing of his or her data, awaiting the resolution of that claim or objection. More specifically, when a data subject exercises his right to restriction of processing under Article 18 GDPR, the controller or processor becomes subject to a dual obligation: (1) the obligation to store the personal data; and (2) the obligation not to perform any other operation on the personal data. The controller or processor therefore becomes a passive holder of the personal data, and is not allowed to disclose them, erase them, or perform any other operation on them, unless a specific exception applies (e.g. consent of the data subject).

(1) Legal Grounds

As previously mentioned, the right to restriction of processing can be effectively exercised only when one of the following grounds applies:

(a) Accuracy of Personal Data

Data subjects have a right to rectification of their personal data under Article 16 GDPR. The rectification of personal data may however take a short or longer period of time depending on various factors, such as the diligence of the controller, the amount of data, or the scope of the error. While awaiting the rectification of their personal data, data subjects may want to protect themselves from any adverse effect linked to the continuous processing of erroneous or incomplete data. In that context, the right to restriction of processing can apply upon request of the data subject for the limited period of time during which a controller is verifying the accuracy and/or rectifying the personal data. The right to restriction of processing may be exercised after or in parallel to the right to rectification. For example, if a data subject notices that a controller is processing inaccurate personal data and that such processing can have adverse consequences for him or her, he or she may invoke simultaneously Article 16 GDPR (right to rectification) and Article 18 GDPR in order to request the controller to stop processing the personal data (except for storage) until the personal data have been rectified.

(b) Unlawful Processing

If it is found that a controller is processing personal data unlawfully, for example because the processing does not have any valid legal basis (as listed in Article 6 or Article 9 GDPR), the controller or processor may decide to erase the personal data in order to put an end to the unlawful processing operations. Similarly, a controller may have planned to delete personal data at a given date in order to comply with the GDPR, including the storage limitation principle enshrined in Article 5(1)(e) GDPR. In some instances, however, the data subjects may want to prevent or temporarily suspend the erasure of the personal data because the latter are still useful or necessary for his or her own purpose. The right to restriction of processing enables data subjects to oppose the erasure of their personal data and to request the restriction of their use instead. The controller or processor are then put under the obligation to keep the personal data until, for example, the data subject has been able to obtain a copy of them.

It is interesting to note in this respect that data subjects also have the right to object to the processing of personal data by exercising their right to object under Article 21 GDPR. Theoretically, a data subject could thus also object to the erasure of his or her personal data by a controller or processor. One may thus question the relevance of this parallel right to restriction of the processing. It becomes however apparent from a careful reading of Article 21 GDPR that the right to object can only be exercised where the controller is processing personal data on the basis of (1) its legitimate interest (Article 6(1)(f) GDPR) or (2) the public interest (Article 6(1)(e) GDPR). By contrast, the right to restriction of processing applies regardless of the legal basis used for processing the data.

If a controller is processing personal data for the performance of a contract under Article 6(1)(b) GDPR, for example, a data subject cannot object to the erasure of his or her data on the basis of Article 21 GDPR. He or she may, however, exercises the right to restriction of processing in order to request the controller not to erase personal data upon termination of the contract, while addressing in parallel a request to obtain a copy of his or her personal data under Article 15 GDPR.

(c) Legal Claims

In this case the data controller has to retain the personal data even though it might not need it anymore, in order to ensure the data subject's legitimate interests, and in particular the right of a data subject to gather information to defend himself or herself in the context of a legal claim. The restriction period should normally last until the data subject's legal claims are established, exercised or defended.

(d) Objection to Processing

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(2) Exceptions

Consent

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Legal Claims

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Protection of Others' Rights

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Important Public Interest

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(3) Information of the Data Subject

See also Article 19 GDPR.

Decisions

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